I wrote this awhile back but it's a true story.
When I in my early twenties, my uncle Dave bought a farm. It was located in a rather wild, hilly part of the county. An area connected to much pioneer history, often bloody.
Too many hills and too little tillable land made it a poor choice but uncle Dave had a good town job and didn't really care. He allowed me to hunt on his place and it produced many a good bag of bunnies, some quail and deer.
On a lonely hilltop near the back of uncle Dave's farm, next to an old abandoned overgrown roadbed, was a small graveyard. It contained about 6 or 8 very old stones, some sunk in the ground, some on their sides in the weeds. The roadbed and cemetery was thick with brush and trees, the cemetery marked by a few pine trees that stood out among the other trees.
On my first visit to this little plot, I lingered awhile, trying to find markings on the stones. It felt so lonely there. From that spot one could look down on the farmhouse and barnyard. One could almost see the whole farm from that little hilltop. I wanted to leave but at the same time felt a strong urge to remain longer. Fighting off that urge, I took about two steps toward the old roadbed, and fell face first into the snow. My feet had somehow become entangled in some brambles. I'd have sworn there was nothing there when I stepped down. I shrugged it off and went on my way.
Back at the farmhouse uncle Dave invited me in for coffee and cookies. Talk got around to the little cemetery and I mentioned how lonely that spot felt. It got quiet for a minute. Then unc told me about the graves. Seems that three of them belong to children who died close together, of an illness of some sort, back in the early 1900's. It was rumored that sometimes at night, when it's very quiet, you can hear children crying in the distance. I asked had he heard this? He said one might imagine they could hear that. One could also think they are seeing lights up there at night. That was my first and last visit to the graves. I still hunted Dave's farm but avoided the graves.
One Sunday morning, while the family was at church, the old farmhouse burned down. A new house was built.
Uncle Dave is dead now. The farm is in other hands. The cemetery is off limits to outsiders but restoration is in progress.
I used to drive by the farm on occasion. The old roadbed could still be seen. The hilltop with the few lonesome standout pine trees are still there as if to mark the spot.